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I wouldn’t be against a simpler Winchester, but I don’t think you could do it now. When I first started attending in the 1970’s amateur astronomy was much simpler (and some would argue, much more fun). There was a more ‘hands on’ approach, where someone might take a cardboard tube and a greasy shaving mirror and end up with a visual observation of some astronomical object, or perhaps construct an observatory from old pallets etc. (I helped a friend do this. The observatory lasted years!). The majority of conversations at Winchester (before the bar) were about what we saw through our instruments, and we didn’t need computers to locate these objects in the clear skies we sometimes had at the old King Alfred’s college. Yes indeed, those were the days! 🙂
Although I enjoy attending astronomical meetings they can and do get very ‘samey’. All high tech, expensive kit, satellites and professional astronomers etc. But perhaps that’s for another discussion.
Gary
Pauline, what a very cruel posting on today of all days. You know how to twist the knife…
About now I would be saying a teary goodbye to my cats whilst my wife packs my Winchester bag. Then off to pick a few others up before heading down to bring some much needed warm Brummie cheer to the locals of the sleepy village of East Ilsley and the Crown and Horns pub in particular. Then off in convoy to Sparsholt to revel in my 43rd Winchester meeting. Instead, what am I doing this weekend? Scouring the dark, grimy back streets of Kingstanding in North Brum to find a dozen black market eggs.
Thanks Pauline – my old mate!
Gary
Hi Alan,
Well this is the first time I’ve seen a plot of delta UMa myself. VSX says the variability is of unspecified type, but this link suggests a possible EB http://liber.onu.edu.ua/pdf/astro/all/OAP_9/000_pdf/bryukh.pdf
It’s quite interesting that the amplitude of the fades vary from one fade to the next. Be nice to see a much longer plot. My eyes are possibly seeing a secondary wave on that light curve.
Gary
This is from KWS (Kamogata/Kiso/Kyoto Wide-field Survey). delta UMa also has a NSV designation (NSV 5513)
Gary
This is a 10d mean visual and V-band light curve for Betelgeuse since the start of the year – taken from the AAVSO light curve generator. The trend is still slightly downwards, but perhaps levelling out.
Gary
Slow decline has been ongoing since Jan 28, following a short flat maximum. Here is my plot up to and including Feb 02.073 UT
Gary
Enjoyed the live streaming yesterday. Many thanks for making this available. One comment though – the volume was very low.
Gary
Been having a ‘play’ with SLOOH over the past couple of weeks, and managed this image of C/2017 T2 on Jan 4.812 UT with ‘Canary 1’ – (0.5-m). Not keen on displaying images I haven’t taken (I refuse to spend time processing images), but I quite liked this one.
Gary
Gary
Have to say I was slightly underwhelmed at T2 on the evening of Jan 20. Although overhead, the background sky is always too bright to appreciate Comets from Birmingham, even fairly bright ones like this. In the 51cm with a 10mm Ethos I could just discern the tail. Ten minutes later, and a degree or so away across the open cluster, I was seeing close to mag 16 in a variable star field with the same eyepiece. My first Comet was Bennett in 1970, and I have loved observing them ever since. However light pollution has virtually ended this aspect of visual observing enjoyment for me.
Gary
The AAVSO have now added this supernova to VSX, so you can now upload your observations to the AID. There is also a sequence available if you plot a chart using VSP http://www.aavso.org/vsp
May have reached maximum – 12.504CV on Jan 21.079 UT.
Gary
Observations of this SN can now be entered into the BAAVSS database as SN 2020ue or SN2020ue. Thanks Andy!
AAVSO still haven’t updated VSX though, so at this time you still can’t get the data into their database.
Brightened further to 12.632CV on Jan 19.222UT
Gary
I measured it at 12.759CV on Jan 18.138.
Neither the BAAVSS or AAVSO databases will accept the designation SN 2020ue yet, but hopefully this will be rectified before too long following a couple of e-mails sent today.
Gary
Your getting good at this Andrew. 5.8-5.9 is on the button.
I’m thinking of sending you a couple of hundred VS charts to get you started properly. Is this OK? 😉
Clear skies,
Gary
Hi Andrew,
I was hoping you were keeping the odd VS observation going. Glad to hear that you are.
Good luck with chi Cyg!
Gary
eta Ori is also a pulsating non supergiant star of the BCEP sub group. Amplitude is quite small though; 0.01 to 0.3, so at it’s extreme upper limit, I guess it could be noticed visually .
Gary
It makes sense to me, and I understand your frustration at recording a <169 star when your nearly at 20, but the sequences for many stars are embedded into the DB, so if you report a negative value of <196 when the listed sequence ends at 169, then that observation might be rejected. Not all stars sequences are entered into the DB, and I’m not sure about SV Ari, but it might be. If it isn’t, and you enter <196 with a sequence code for a sequence which ends at 169, then that observation will be accepted but will cause some confusion when the data is looked at.
You might report such an observation with a different sequence number (one which you have designed yourself). This would then be flagged as an unknown sequence, but it would make it into the DB. Then in 20 years time or so when SV Ari wakes up again, you could monitor the outburst using the recognised sequence of the day – by which time the limit might be in the 20’s.
The less confusion in the DB, the better for all concerned.
Happy Christmas…
Gary
You should report the faintest star visible (recorded) which is measured on the sequence you are using. Adding fainter stars of your own means you are altering the official sequence, and the data might not be accepted into the VSSDB (depends on the object – I think).
If you wish to help extend the sequence to SV Ari beyond 169, then you should have a chat with Jeremy.
Gary
